The Grasping Imagination: The American Writings of Henry James

Peter Martinus Buitenhuis

Published by University of Toronto Press 1970

The Grasping Imagination

The American Writings of Henry James

Peter Martinus Buitenhuis

In the series Heritage

https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442632684

Overview
Contents

About this book

This study places James’s career in a new perspective by discussing its American aspect. It gives the critic an opportunity to come to grips with the evolution of James’s technique from his second short story to his penultimate, unfinished novel, The Ivory Tower.

Author / Editor information

Buitenhuis Peter Martinus :

Peter Martinus Buitenhuis (1925-2004), English Professor Emeritus at Simon Fraser University (SFU), was a prolific scholarly writer and literary critic. His academic career—which included teaching positions at Yale University, University of Toronto, McGill University, and University of California at Berkeley—saw the production of numerous books, articles, and reviews, including works on Henry James, E.J. Pratt, and Hugh MacLennan. Buitenhuis also conducted research and wrote on various topics pertaining to propaganda and World Wars I and II.

Reviews

Nona Balakian:
‘Unsensational and eminently readable, it brings the best kind of “key” to a reading of James: a lucid intelligence and knowledge illumined by personal insights. It is [the author’s] contention, amply documented and convincingly argued, that the more obvious international aspect of James’s fiction has overshadowed its equally distinct American aspect. In charting that course for the first time, Mr. Buitenhuis does more than enforce James’s American roots, which have so often been questioned; he also helps to clarify and heighten the dramatic confrontation of the Old World and New, which was the central concern of his fiction.’

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
1. The Civil War and Harvard's Tented Field Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	8
2. Literary Influences – All the Breezes of the West Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
3. The Hawthorne Aspect Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	38
4. Transatlantic Trials Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	45
5. A Certain Form. Watch and Ward Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
6. Experiment and Decision The Attempt to Be an American Artist Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
7. Comic Pastoral. The Europeans Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	89
8. American Episodes and The Portrait of a Lady Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
9. Points of View Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
10. Evasive Boston and Threadbare Internationalism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	133
11. A Very American Tale The Bostonians Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
12. English Years and American Letters Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	160
13. The Restless Analyst of the American Scene Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	182
14. Undiscovered America Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	200
15. In the Finer Grain Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209
16. The Fresh Start and the Broken Link. The Ivory Tower Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
17. The Obstinate Finality Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	261
Bibliographical Note Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	269
Abbreviations and Short Titles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	271
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	274
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281
Backmatter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	297

Language: English
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Copyright year: 1970
Audience: College/higher education;Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 310
Illustrations
- Other: 8 b&w illustrations

eBook

Published: December 15, 1970
ISBN: 9781442632684